By Ndung’u Wainaina
Water is a critical resource. Water stress is now a global and systemic challenge. No government can afford to treat this water stress and scarcity as a temporary crisis. Water and sanitation are preconditions to life. It is critical for sustainable development, eradication of poverty and hunger, industrial and agricultural production, and human health and well-being. Water-related challenges include limited access to safe water and sanitation, increasing pressure on water resources and ecosystems, and changing climatic conditions exacerbating scarcity.
Water is at the heart of recent milestone agreements such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, and the 2015 Paris Agreement. The United Nations General Assembly launched the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development” in 2018 to mobilise action that will help transform water resource management.
The Water Decade focuses on the sustainable development and integrated management of water resources and on the furtherance of cooperation and partnership at all levels to help achieve internationally agreed water-related goals and targets.
Kenya is a water-scarce country with per capita availability below 1000 m3 annually due to its low renewable freshwater supply. Ironically, the country loses over 47% of its water supply through leakages and theft, approximately worth Kshs.11.6 Billion, leading to unstable supply to millions of consumers and higher prices. These are threshold problems of technical, commercial and governance. Only about 56% of the population has access to clean water. Fragile and unevenly distributed catchment areas contribute over 75% of surface water resources.
Kenya Kwanza Government was elected during the Water Action Decade (2018-2028) era. In its manifesto, the Alliance has highlighted water as a critical enabler and the most crucial game changer in moving away from unreliable rain-dependent agriculture. However, the Manifesto policy has termed dam projects as lacking value for money. The Current policy is centred on domestic use and large dams.
The Coalition will seek to achieve the right to water by 2027: access to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for domestic, agricultural and industrial use. “This will be done by shifting focus from large dams to household and community water projects, with emphasis on harvesting and recycling water,” the manifesto states. While launching the Coalition Manifesto, President William Ruto said in areas where large water reservoirs are viable, his administration will adopt the public-private partnership (PPP) to fund the projects using the PPP model. Adding, “the same way we have power purchase agreements, we are going to work on water purchase agreements to bring the private sector on board,”. The Manifesto says that the Kenya Kwanza Administration will deploy climate-smart agriculture technologies comprising micro-irrigation, precision irrigation, hydro and aquaporin technologies to achieve maximum value for money.
The Fourth Schedule of the Constitution lists water supply and sanitation as a county function. This function is about the fulfilment of the human right to water and the right to reasonable standards of sanitation provided for under Article 43 of the Constitution. Being human rights, the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil these human rights is a responsibility of both levels of the government. Thus, framing policy actions to fulfil this water right requires working collaboratively and proper intergovernmental arrangements.
The Constitution of Kenya 2010 assigned responsibility for drinking water supply and sanitation to the 47 county governments. A significant change in water law and policy usually triggers water sector reforms. This happened when a new water policy was adopted in 1999 and a new water law in 2002. The promulgation of the 2010 Constitution triggered Kenya’s current water sector reforms. These constitutional changes resulted in a devolved system of government, with a distinction of mandates between the national government and forty-seven (47) county governments.
The water sector reforms include the development and implementation of unbundled intergovernmental and institutional mandates coupled with the fulfilment of legal requirements in line with the Constitution and Water Act of 2016. This is consistent with Kenya Kwanza Manifesto’s promise to transfer all devolved functions fully.
Under the 2010 Constitution, the National Government is responsible for policy-making, setting national standards for the water sector, and establishing a durable and sustainable development system, including water protection. Counties are responsible for implementing national laws and policies on water conservation and providing water and sanitation services. Constitutionally, the national government has the functions of use of international waters and water resources, national statistics and data, consumer protection, national public works, establishing durable and sustainable systems of development for water protection, securing sufficient residual water, hydraulic engineering and water sources safety, and capacity building and technical assistance to counties.
County governments have the constitutional functions of county public works and services, including stormwater management, water and sanitation services and implementation of specific national government policies on soil and water conservation. Therefore, county water and sanitation service includes county-specific water and sanitation asset development, asset management and related water supply and sanitation service provision for the realisation of the human right to water and reasonable sanitation standards in the county. County governments also play a critical role in soil and water conservation under the regulatory framework developed in a consultative and collaborative approach by the national government institutions responsible for water resources regulation.
As a matter of policy, the county governments that seek to invest in water resource conservation in line with their respective county aspirations can use county legislative and operational frameworks to realise their goals within national regulatory principles. Thus, the water supply, sanitation service, and soil and water conservation functions are devolved. However, these must be seen within a regulatory framework spearheaded by the national government in collaboration with county governments.
Investment needs for financing water infrastructure are colossal. And the current rate of investment will not allow us to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”
The gap between investment needs and current financing flows is a testament to the inadequacy of existing policies, financing strategies and mechanisms to mobilise and direct adequate capital.
Public and official development finance, although essential for financing water security, is not available at scale to cover current and projected investment needs. Moreover, individual investments and projects should form part of a robust pathway towards a resilient water management system to maximise benefits and synergies.
A multi-pronged approach to financing and planning in the water sector is required. Three key action areas need to guide efforts to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of water-related investments and are the precondition to mobilise additional sources of finance.
First, the urgency to strengthen and de-risk the enabling environment for water sector investments. A robust enabling environment for water-related investment is a robust set of policies, regulations and institutional arrangements that facilitate investment in activities and assets that contribute to water security. A strong enabling environment also helps ensure the water sector’s ability to recover costs, secure sustainable financing, mobilise additional sources of funding and finance and thus enhance the sector’s attractiveness to investors.
Secondly, making the best use of existing sources of finance and assets. Structural, governance and operational inefficiencies make it challenging to access available funding and to use existing assets effectively. Governments, regulators and service providers can consider five interlinked options to focus their efforts on better use of existing sources of finance and assets and lay the groundwork for increasing access to more diverse sources of finance across the water sector. These five options are Improving timely asset management to reduce operational inefficiencies, Sound capital expenditure planning, Targeted allocation of public subsidies, Seizing opportunities to improve economies of scale, and Creating and maintaining incentives for performance,
Finally, optimising future investment needs by planning and sequencing investments. Water-related investments need to be resilient to cope with systemic changes. Resilient solutions consider that disruptions of system functions might occur, sometimes due to expected events and other times due to unexpected ones. There is a need to plan how to recover from such events and changes.
In this regard, the cabinet secretary for the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation will need to evaluate and make significant changes in the Ministry’s institutional and management structures, including personnel in line with the reforms introduced by the 2010 Constitution and Water Act, 2016. The internal Ministry’s changes will serve the following objectives:
First, water sector governance: implement legal and regulatory framework reform, rationalising the tutelage framework to create clear dispatching between operational and regulatory activities, and develop proper mechanisms for performance monitoring.
Second, the financial and commercial: conduct a customer and user census, implement consumption-based tariffs for water services and revise the tariff structure for water and sanitation services.
Thirdly, the reporting and monitoring: enhance sector monitoring, sector transparency, sector coordination and communication with users.
Fourth, capacity building: strengthen the Ministry’s monitoring capacities, streamline and structure water establishments’ internal organisation and management.
Finally, the operation and management of facilities and services: improve operating cost control and adopt a shared wastewater management framework.
The ultimate goal of sound water resources management is to provide a reliable supply of water of the appropriate quality for a range of needs: drinking and sanitation, food and energy production, industrial use, economic growth, and environmental biodiversity. This can only be achieved when policymakers have comprehensive and accurate data on surface and underground water sources to inform their decision-making.
Several broad and specific policy actions are necessary for the water and sanitation sector. First, the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry and County Governments will need to co-finance from both budgetary allocations and Development Partners’ funding to establish a core of quality, up-to-date, and readily accessible surface and underground water information and data in different parts of the country starting with Counties around Nairobi County which provide water to City County namely Kiambu, Murang’a, Nyeri and Nyandarua Counties. This will establish a water resource data and information repository for enabling proper conversation, planning, development and utilisation of scarce water resources.
In addition to mapping and creating a national water master plan, this water data repository will be handy in enhancing public knowledge and education on water sources conservation, quality, quantity, movement and sustainability. There is a need to improve the Water Act 2016 to help ensure proper management and protection of groundwater and underground resources and regulate and control groundwater development.
The Ministry will require developing Inter-Agencies and two levels of government partnerships in water sources management and protection. This will enable the Ministry to keep evaluating the effect of environmental and climate change and seasonal changes in the water table and studying spatial and temporal variations for appropriate remedy actions.
Data, technology and analytics have a vital role in helping to transform water sector operations and services and stimulate innovation across utilities and the supplier community. Data and analytics are becoming a more fundamental part of how the water sector drives better outcomes for customers and the environment.
Second, the centrality of coordination and cooperation mechanisms between the ministry and county governments in the water sector. Three things are set out in the Constitution: Water resources are vested in the national government, but counties have a residual role in implementing national water sector policies; Water and sanitation services provision are the responsibility of county governments. However, because the Constitution has created a fundamental right to water and sanitation, fulfilling this right implies a significant role for the national government in water services and sanitation; and Complexities surrounding water storage and irrigation have not explicitly been identified as functions of either level of government.
What actions are required? First, fully operationalise the Water Sector Intergovernmental Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism signed between the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation and the Council of Governors during the Kenya Water Summit held in Naivasha on 2nd March 2018, whose goal is to steer the attainment of a sustainable water sector in Kenya including addressing any issues that may arise in the management of water and sanitation services in the water sector.
Second, conduct an audit on the assets and liabilities that are supposed to be transferred to the county governments in the Water Sector as per the Water Act 2016 on Asses and functions Transfer for the Water Services Boards to the County Governments.
Third, develop a technical assistance and capacity-building framework for the county government agencies handling water sector functions.
Fourth, initiate changes in the Ministry and its Agencies to accord with and respect the allocation of constitutional tasks between the two levels of government in the water sector.
Fifth, create a joint coordination framework between the Ministry and County Governments in identifying and prioritising projects and programmes implementation and funding to avoid duplication and conflicts. The water sector has to shift away from an infrastructure-first approach to address service delivery impact holistically.
Finally, convene Inter-Ministerial (Agriculture, Energy, Road, Environment etc.) and county governments Summit to deliberate and agree on a framework for how the Ministry will enable them to realise their goals, with the water sector playing a pivotal role while facilitating the Ministry achieve its mandate.
The third policy action is developing sustainable financing and resource mobilisation strategy for the Water Sector. A radical increase in water and sanitation investments is required to ensure water and sanitation availability and sustainable management. New finance sources and better use of existing sources are critical.
Water sector financing heavily depends on government and development partners, with approximately 70% of the annual capital investment coming from development partners, the community and the Government providing the bulk balance and the private sector playing a negligible role. This illustrates the sector’s vulnerability and emphasises the need to find ways of mobilising domestic private sector funds. Spending on the water sector is composed of capital expenditure, which accounts for 75% of the total.
The Water Ministry should adopt a zero-budgeting approach where every shilling in the budgetary allocation and development partners funding expenditure must be justified and attached to evidential data based on performance indicators and cost-effectiveness. The Presidency should walk the talk in the water sector by ensuring the Ministry has sufficient budgetary allocation on time. Further, the Cabinet Secretary would need to strengthen the capability and capacity of the Water Sector Trust Fund (Water Fund) for the Fund to effectively play a central role in mobilising funds locally and internationally and disbursing funds to water and sanitation projects and programs.
Leveraging the private sector and financial institutions to invest in the water sector is crucial. The Cabinet Secretary for Water has been on a mission of articulating and attracting private sector and financial institution investments in the water sector, such as through public-private partnerships, microfinance, green bonds, equity and technology transfer. The Cabinet secretary must address the derisk factors to crowd in the local and foreign capital and technology in the water sector.
The Ministry has proposed a model to build, operate, and transfer. This is where the private sector designs, builds (or rehabilitates), finances and operates water projects (including dams) for a concession period. This will be very important in community water and sanitation projects where dams have last-mile connectivity. Communities are willing to pay for water services provided the costs are reasonable, and water is available throughout the year for domestic use and small-holding agricultural irrigation.
There are lessons learned from the private sector and financial institutions’ investment in water projects, especially community projects. Studies show subsidies can leverage commercial financing from banks to make pro-poor investments viable and attract equity from communities. Target communities must be willing to pay for piped water supply. The willingness and ability to pay for piped-water supply was a key factor in identifying viable sub-projects—and identifying bankable community sub-projects proved challenging. The lender sought to ensure that target consumers could pay connection fees and monthly bills and competing sources would not erode that demand for piped water.
A community sub-project must have sufficient scale to generate enough revenue. Investments financed with commercial loans should generate revenue within a relatively short period, and outputs linked to the subsidy payment must be achievable on time. The approach requires significant technical support, and a scale-up should be embedded in a programmatic water sector initiative. Consideration should be given to institutionalising support mechanisms necessary to develop such financing approaches further. Kenya has dynamic water sector institutions that could increase support to service providers to build capacity for self-financing and management. This will be important in promoting smart water and sanitation investments, especially by retrofitting existing systems, improving revenue generation, reforming water taxes and tariffs, and developing ‘bankable’ projects. Water service providers should be encouraged to form grouped financing vehicles.
Unlike in the last regime, the Cabinet Secretary has demonstrated a firm commitment to reviving and reinvigorating the Water Sector Development Partners Working Group to tap into individual, basket and technical support funding for specific projects or programmes. In response, development partners are enthusiastic and, more importantly, have made commitments and pledges to invest in the water sector. This strong cooperation and partnership is very vital.
Another water sector financing area is transboundary (between counties and international boundaries) water cooperation with joint projects or programs financing approach. There are already examples of Kenya and Uganda and Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia jointly water projects. Locally, county governments should identify and prioritise such joint initiatives.
On irrigation private sector financing, individual commercial farmers, private equity or group can initiate private irrigation operators to take over existing irrigation with smallholder farmers engaged as out growers to large commercial farmers. Private operators are responsible for all irrigation system aspects up to the farm level. Farmers are responsible for maintaining the tertiary Network. The private sector operates, manages, and maintains irrigation infrastructure services for defined farmers or recipients. The private sector can be engaged to raise commercial finance for infrastructure development and then construct, operate, manage and maintain infrastructure. Investment and financing recovered through fees (government or users). Also, hub farms can be arranged where the private sector is engaged to undertake commercial agricultural production and develop irrigation systems. In all the above scenarios, there will be a need to address land ownership, water extraction and public sector counterpart.
The final policy action is to assess the human, technical and institutional capacity needs of the Ministry and its various departments or agencies for effective and efficient delivery. The ministry should have an internal audit of human resources. This will include different Agencies under the Ministry to facilitate the identification of capacity gaps and rationalise staff deployment to optimise productivity and delivery.
There is a need for regular review of policies, systems, mechanisms, institutions and laws governing the operations and execution of the Ministry’s mandate. This will serve three purposes. First, develop a coordinated and integrated approach in capacity building and technical assistance based on identified needs and gaps. Second, create unity of purpose in delivering. This will remove bureaucracy, deter conflict of interest and enforce clear lines of work and leadership roles. Finally, improve water sector governance, oversight and delivery surveillance.
The Ministry and the County governments should strengthen public knowledge, research and participation in water resource management and delivery. This would require expanding and supporting the role of the Water Training Institute. Strong partnerships drive successful service delivery. Building strong partnerships with local actors will be vital in implementing water supply and sanitation services. Being responsive to the needs of local partners and accountable for commitments to them are crucial to building these effective relationships. (
— The writer is Transitional Justice and Human Security Fellow; Twitter – @NdunguWainaina.
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